Develop a Recession Proof Attitude

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Develop a Recession Proof Attitude

Written by John Boe

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Attack Yourself

Nothing feels better than winning. But while you are cashing that big commission check, relaxing on the beach at your sales award trip, or walking on stage at your national sales meeting to pick up your trophy ask yourself this question: What next? You see, winning was hard. It required perseverance, training, hard work and focus. But all too often, after achieving our big goals we take our foot off of the success accelerator and just coast for awhile. Relaxing in the glow of our victory we quickly forget that the game is still on, our competitors are not resting but instead are plotting our demise. I was reminded of this yesterday when I read a marketing slogan for a company that had just received a top award in its industry. The slogan simply read:

You just closed the biggest deal of your career, you blew away your quota, you made the president’s club, you were named sales rep of the year. You just crossed the finish line first . You raised your hands, pumped your fists, and celebrated. You are a winner!

“When you’re in second place attack the leader. When you’re in first place Attack Yourself.”

What a perfect message for winners. In the 21st century there is no time for complacency. We can not afford the luxury of comparing ourselves to those behind us. There is no time to rest easy. And though we must take time to celebrate and enjoy the fruits of victory, we must also stop and create new goals for ourselves. We must learn to take each win in stride and raise our own bar so that we keep reaching higher.

It is easy to look back poor performance or a failure with our 20/20 spectacles on and find all of the areas where improvement can be made. But it takes loads of self discipline and the heart of a winner to break down a brilliant performance and then take action to make small adjustments and improvements that keep us ahead of the pack. The great NFL quarter back Steve Young said once that “the principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than the day before.”

In fact this is what all elite athletes and elites sales professionals do. Real winners constantly attack themselves. They pick apart each performance and seek ways to improve. It is the unwavering focus on constant improvement that separates the good from the great.

I was speaking with a client the other day about the economy and business, and he said something that surprised me. We were talking about advertising and just as I was waiting for him to tell me he was pulling back, he told me he was charging ahead as aggressively as he could. When I asked him why, he told me:

“Most companies are pulling back right now,” he said “And in a couple of months when things have stabilized, and they begin to move, I’ll be way ahead of them.

“This is the time to grab market share, get a jump on my competition, and to put myself in a position to capitalize as things turn around – which they will.”

As I listened to him, my own attitude started to turn around.

“You see,” he continued, “After the election things are going to settle down. Oh they may be touch and go for a bit, but after a while business will improve and companies will start focusing on growing again.

“The smartest thing I can do right now is keep getting better. Improve my training, improve my products, and improve my advertising. Everything I do now will pay off Big Time over the next 6 months, and it will all give me a tremendous edge on the other companies who are sitting on the sidelines right now.”

When we concluded the call, I was sold. He was right – things are going to change, and everything that I do today will make me more successful when it does.

As I thought about that call, I realized how true the saying, “Attitudes are contagious” is. After weeks of hearing prospects tell me “we’re just sitting tight,” or some variation on that, I had gotten kind of down. And I’m sure my attitude was coming across.

Today, I don’t let my prospect’s “recession attitude” infect me. Rather, I give them a heavy dose of my attitude, and that’s keeping me positive, getting me deals, and attracting more clients to me.

If you’re struggling right now, ask yourself: “Would you want someone to catch your current attitude?”

If not, then take a tip from my client and develop a recession-proof attitude!

John Boe
		About the author:
		John Boe is an entertaining speaker with a powerful message and a passion to help salespeople reach their full potential. He has devoted the last two-decades to training and motivating high-performance, successful salespeople. His knowledge has been synthesized into one of the most powerful sales training programs ever created on the subject of peak-performance selling and personal achievement! .